Consensus Builder

>>Toward the end of her first day as the Collier Building Industry Association's new executive vice president, Brenda Talbert reaches into the blanket of papers, reports and folders that covers her desk and lightly taps a big red button. "That was easy!" blurts the mechanical voice in happy understatement.

The Easy Button is part of a national office-supply chain's marketing campaign, but it's also indicative of Talbert's way of doing things. As the association's top administrator and chief lobbyist, she's charged with promoting the interests of builders in Collier County while helping lawmakers find solutions to sticky problems such as affordable housing and growth management.

By necessity, providing stress relief is one of her specialties.

"I hit that button four times today," explains Talbert, 52. "I use it when the staff feels overwhelmed, or when we think we might have solved a hair-raising problem. It makes everybody laugh, takes the tension out of the situation."

Talbert brought the button with her from West Palm Beach, where she spent the past five years leading the Gold Coast Builders Association. Hired by the Collier BIA in February, she spent one month traveling between jobs, wrapping up projects on the East Coast while networking with builders and government officials in Collier County.

Learning the ins and outs of this region's building industry and politics is difficult enough, but Talbert also comes to the association in the midst of a transition period. Her predecessor, Scott Coulombe, resigned in December, less than six months after taking the job. The building association also has lost several long-term employees over the past year. By the time Talbert was hired, just six staff members remained.

"Scott is very competent but he followed David Ellis, who was here for a long time and was very well liked," says Talbert. "Filling those shoes was difficult. In that situation, small missteps can sometimes become big missteps. This is a good, well-established association but there's some healing that's going to have to happen."

"[Brenda] stood out to us because she's demonstrated she can handle tough situations and prevail," says CBIA president Al Zichella.

Prevailing is another Talbert specialty. She first moved to Naples from the Detroit area in the mid-1980s. Recently divorced, she was at a crossroads and looking for a fresh start. She had degrees in human resources and development and in art and art history from Oakland University in Michigan, but she lacked business experience.

"I came down the interstate as far as it would go," recalls Talbert. "At the time, I-75 literally ended at Naples. I sat on the beach for two weeks, thinking about what I should do next. Getting into the business world was difficult for me, starting like I did in my late 20s."

Talbert worked for about a year as an account representative for the Naples Daily News then moved to Denver for work at a cosmetics firm before returning to Florida. A job as a mortgage broker helped Talbert make connections in the building industry, and she was hired as executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Manatee County in 1996. She had found her niche.

Being a woman in an industry dominated by men can be helpful, she says. "An association like this attracts a lot of type-A, successful men who are attracted to leadership, and sometimes they butt heads with one another," says Talbert. "It's helpful to have a consensus builder, which women tend to be. On the other hand, it takes a strong female not to fall into a subservient position; it's about being strong without being a Sherman tank."

In 2001, Talbert was named executive director of the Gold Coast Builders Association. Leading the trade group through public debates surrounding workforce housing, growth management and the establishment of the Scripps Research Institute helped Talbert hone her political skills.

"We used to have a fairly high-powered government-affairs staff person, but he left to go into business," says Scott Worley, a GCBA member and an owner of Northstar Homes in Delray Beach. "So Brenda had to really take the lead with government agencies, and she proved she is excellent at developing relationships with politicians. Her ability to communicate and gain access is very strong."

Talbert anticipates that the same kinds of politically charged issues will dominate her time in Collier County. That's why she brought her big red button with her.

"They're both dynamic associations that are facing the same issues-growth, roads, workforce housing, impact fees," says Talbert. "The main thing is maintaining the community and quality of life that's already here, and at the same time providing housing."